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I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and holiday season ahead! I'll be back soon with more. xo ~ susan |
Thursday, December 20, 2018
New Gnome Pattern!
Sunday, December 09, 2018
December Sunday
Hi, Knitters,
I hope you are all doing well. I have a couple of fun things to share with you on this cold December Sunday. I thought I would start today with a quick follow-up from my last post, which was quite a few weeks ago. In that post, I talked about my son Ben's new venture in teaching cooking classes. I got to attend one of his classes last week and it was so much fun.
I haven't been to a cooking class before and I learned a lot. The class was called One Pot, One dinner and Ben demonstrated how to make four different vegetarian meals in two short hours. We got to eat so much good healthy farm-fresh food all while picking up lots of tips along the way. I learned about several new spices, cutting techniques and mainly how to have fun with your cooking. We got all four dinner recipes, too. The farm setting is completely charming and the class was a big hit!
If you are ever in the area or are interested, the organic produce farm is called Sprouting Acres and it is located about 15-20 minutes outside of Madison. They are offering cooking and baking classes, CSA boxes and pizza oven gatherings (starting in the spring). Sprouting Acres also has a booth at the farmers market on the square and other locations.
Later today we are attending Ben's Holiday Baking Bonanza at Sprouting Acres. It is going to be a cookie-baking extravaganza with cookie decorating and making, recipe sharing, cookie eating, hot chocolate drinking time. We can't wait.
Next up, I have a new pattern and kit that was released a short while ago. It is called Little Long Johns and it is an ornament pattern.
The idea of the long johns ornament has been a long time coming. I've had it on my list for quite awhile and I'm so glad it finally came to be. I used Barrett Wool Co.'s Wisconsin Woolen Spun Fingering weight yarn because I wanted that woolen spun rustic kind of old-fashioned look to the fabric. It worked out well.
The mini-kit is so cute. It comes with a small cake of the red yarn, enough to make one ornament.
The back flap is my favorite part. In addition to the yarn to make one pair of Long Johns, the kit also includes baker's twine for loops or for a garland, 10 little black beads for the buttons, and two tiny clothespins for another hanging option. It's all super cute and fun and affordable!
Have a great Sunday and week ahead. I have a few new holiday charm pattern patterns coming out this week ahead and I'll be sure to post about those as soon as they are available. I'm having so much fun creating these little ornaments this year. Thanks for checking them out.
Thanks for joining me today, Knitters. I always love popping in here to connect.
xo ~ susan
Friday, October 26, 2018
Breadmaking & a Pizza Oven
Hi, Knitters,
I hope you are all having a great October. It's flying by so fast, as always. I am popping in today to tell you some exciting news about my son, Ben Anderson. He has been working at an organic produce farm called Sprouting Acres for a while now and it's been really interesting for him. After baking and cooking for several local bakeries and restaurants, including cooking at many local events, he is starting to teach some classes at Sprouting Acres farm. The farm is located right outside of Madison in Cambridge, Wisconsin. It is a really beautiful location. Ben and the owner and others built the class facility from the ground up. The building includes a professional kitchen, class/meeting/restaurant space and it's really pretty amazing.
Ben is teaching several classes with more to be listed very soon. He is teaching a Sourdough Bread class, a class called Breads from Around the World (I'm taking this class on Nov. 20th!), and an appetizer class.
I'd love to see you in class so I hope you'll join me or sign up for any of the classes being offered at Sprouting Acres if you are in the area. Let me know if you sign up!
Ben has been cooking and baking and studying all things about food for years and years. He is really talented if I do say so myself! He is adding a Holiday Baking class that will be held on a weekend day coming up, too, and I'm definitely attending this one when it gets listed.
I know firsthand how good Ben's breads taste. They are delicious and beautiful with an artisan quality. For his sourdough class you will leave with your own starter to take with you!
I want to share some photos from Sprouting Acres with you. It is a special place with so much potential because the people who work and live there really care about what they are doing and the produce and food they provide to local restaurants and sell at their own farmers market booths. You may have seen the Sprouting Acres booth on the market on the square if you go on Saturdays.
This is the building that Ben helped build. One inside wall is covered with old barn wood and it looks so cool. Last weekend we went to the first-ever pizza day at the farm and that's where I took these photos. They had a trio of string instrument musicians playing inside the building and it was lovely.
That's Ben in the white t-shirt. He helped build and design the new wood-burning pizza oven. It was a super fun event and the fall weather was perfect. The pizza was so good, incredibly tasty. What an achievement. They just added the roof/shelter structure. They all worked so hard.
This is Ben and his girlfriend Laura. Laura helped with the pizza event by running orders and making the pizzas. She is a trooper. I think she was all pizza-ed out by the end after making dozens and dozens of pizzas over the afternoon hours.
By the way, Ben is wearing his Baker's Hat I designed and knit for him last winter.
Here is the barn wood I was mentioning!
Andy is the owner of Sprouting Acres. Ben met Andy when he was buying local produce for the restaurant where he was cooking. They really hit it off and Ben has enjoyed working at Andy's farm.
The pizza oven in action!
He's so at home and in his element when surrounded by the farm and cooking.
Anyway, have a great Friday and weekend ahead and maybe I'll see you at Sprouting Acres or in Minneapolis or NYC Vogue Knitting Live events coming up. I hope so!
xo ~ susan
Sunday, October 14, 2018
Apple Picking and Fall Knitting
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xo ~ susan
Sunday, October 07, 2018
Making No. 6 & Black Sheep, White Sheep Pre-orders!
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Saturday, September 15, 2018
Counting Ridges Mitten Pattern & Kits!
Hi, Knitters,
First, we are having a huge pattern sale on Barrett Wool Co.! 40% off all patterns through September 21, 2018 using the code FALL at checkout!
This pattern sale includes patterns like Little Dino, Mermaids, Mitten patterns, Sleepy Kitten Set, Three French Hens, Bear and a Bunny Suit, Holiday Charm Set, Owen Hat, and Cabled Gigi to name a few.
Second, I have a new pattern, which is included in the pattern sale, and a new kit! The new mittens are called Counting Ridges Mittens.
Here is a little information on the bulky weight on mitten pattern:
What could be easier than casting on and counting ridges until you have completed an adorable, squishy garter stitch mitten? Nothing much! This bulky yarn mitten pattern is one of my favorites because it is incredibly quick to knit, it fits so well and it’s so easy to memorize. I’ve provided five sizes from toddler to adult-large. That should cover most anyone from babies, kids, teens to adults. You can, of course, easily modify the lengths of the cuffs, hands, and thumbs to suit your preferences. There is something so classic, cozy and old-fashioned about these Counting Ridges Mittens. I know you will fall in love with knitting, gifting and wearing them.
Let the mitten-knitting season begin!
The kit includes our Wisconsin Woolen Spun Bulky Twist yarn wound in a ready to cast on cake and in lots of color choices, the pattern, and our signature stitch marker tin. The pattern comes in five sizes, baby through adult-large.
Have a great weekend, everyone. I hope you enjoy the new pattern and or kit! These really are the squishiest, simplest mittens around.
xo ~ susan
Sunday, August 26, 2018
Water & Mountainside
Hi, Knitters,
Well, we were struck by a flash flood in Madison and surrounding areas last week. I've never experienced anything like it before and it is not fun. What happened is that an enormous amount of rain hit our area in a short period of time and the streets and drainage systems, ponds and lakes could not handle it. Streets have been and still are closed days later. People are drying out their basements and taking furniture, flooring and belongings out to the curbs.
We were lucky. We had some trouble in part of our basement but we didn't lose anything and we handled the water swiftly and efficiently. Our street is on a hill and my daughter and I watched from an upstairs window as it turned into a raging river in front of us. It was incredible. I really feel for those that have had difficulty, injury, damage and even loss. Water is a force to be reckoned with.
The photo above is of one of my favorite walking and running paths. The line of bushes in the water is where the path is supposed to go, it veers to the right when it is dry. The photo below shows the exposed path on a regular day.
You can see the difference of the exact same spot before the flooding, where the same path veers to the right. Almost all of the greenery and flowers are now under water. Things will take a while to go back to normal but I am just thankful that most are okay.
I hope you are all doing okay and well and that you haven't had any crazy weather issues in your areas. It seems that there are a lot of natural disasters out there right now. If you are going through one of these situations I hope that you are okay.
photo credit: Alana Dakos
On a much lighter note, I want to share with you a new hat design by the talented Alana Dakos of Never Not Knitting fame. She is a lovely designer who I have admired and mentioned many times throughout the years.
The new hat is called Mountainside and it has a textured botanical pattern that looks like pine trees on the side of a mountain, thus the name. The hat uses Barrett Wool Co.'s Wisconsin Woolen Spun yarn in Fingering Weight. We have created beautiful little kits to go along with the Mountainside hat.
photo credit: Alana Dakos
I love the fit of the hat, the elegant design and the simplicity of it all. Alana has a real knack for this type of design detail. She has just the right touch.
The Mountainside Hat Kit comes with enough yarn, wound in a ready-to-use cake, to make one hat following Alana's pattern, a downloadable Ravelry pattern code (the printed pattern is not included), a stitch marker tin filled with 20 assorted color markers, a Snap-On Pom-Pom in your color of choice, and our newest offering (see below).
We have four lovely colors still available for the Mountainside Hat Kit.
I made an embroidery wall hanging of our logo to put up in our office. We loved it so much that we photographed it and got it made into a coaster. I love these coasters so much. They have a handmade touch and they are useful, unlike something like a postcard.
I hope if you get an order, that you'll enjoy using the coaster with my embroidery to rest your mug while you are knitting. I like that idea.
Anyway, I am knitting my own Mountainside hat in the Oats colorway with a faux-fox snap on pom that's included in the kit. I've already casted on and am getting ready to start the stitch pattern section now. I'd love it if you'd join me.
Have a great Sunday and week ahead and stay dry and safe!
xo ~ susan